I'll always be your big brother
by RawrWoofMeow
Summary: The Eppes brothers are dragged (literally) into the other side of an FBI kidnapping investigation. Rated M for torture and violence and possibly future intercourse
1. Chapter 1

A/N: First ever attempt at a fanfic. Recently hooked on Numbers. Don't own any of the characters etc etc.  
Information on Chapter updates and uploads is on my profile, I'll keep updated as often as possible.

"Charlie, I'm going now, I'll lock the front door behind me." Alan Eppes called out to his son who was in the garage working on one equation or another.  
"Yeah, alright dad. Have fun with Steve." His son called back without so much as looking away from his blackboards full of numbers and symbols.

He would be in there for several hours, giving the men breaking into his house more than enough time to fully bug the place with cameras and microphones. Once they finished they moved silently to surround the garage. One of the men knocked over a dining chair in the house, making sure it was loud enough for the professor to hear it in the garage.

Charlie Eppes heard the noise and was for the first time distracted from his work. 'That can't be dad home yet. Who else would it be? Don, maybe.' he put his chalk down and with one last look at his work, he exited the garage. He was in no way expecting to be grabbed by multiple pairs of hands as soon as he was out of the garage. There were hands on his arm, at least a man each arm, and another moved up behind him and pushed him face down on the ground, using a painfully strong grip on his shoulders.

Once he was on the ground he yelled at the men, "What's going on?!"

He may as well have not even spoken; they pulled his hands behind his back and put handcuffs tightly on his wrists. Charlie could have sworn they were arresting him, but for the lack of talking from the men and from what he could see none of them were wearing police or FBI uniforms.

A black cloth bag was pulled over his head and they lifted him roughly back to his feet.

Charlie realized as soon as the bag was on what was happening. This was a kidnapping, not an arrest. He had to leave as many clues as possible for Don since he knew he couldn't get away from the men.

He waited until they were inside the house, walking to the front door and then he began thrashing, kicking his legs out and trying to knock over as many things as possible, making sure to show signs of a struggle.

"Hold him damn it!" Charlie heard the first words from his captors. He was subsequently pushed back suddenly, only to be caught before hitting the ground and having his legs lifted up and held in a firm grip.

He knew he had managed to knock over something because he heard the thud as it hit the ground. With luck Don would get the message and start looking for him quickly.  
The men got Charlie to their car, and to Charlie's surprise they shoved him not into a van or even a boot, but onto the back seat of whatever car they had. Before driving away Charlie felt the sharp prick of a needle in his upper arm and within the minute he collapsed on the seat, knocked out by the sedative.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie woke up sitting in a chair with a table in front of him. He took notes of his surroundings while his head was clearing enough for him to move without dizziness. He was in a white room that actually looked newly painted; there was no furniture in the room aside from the chair he was sitting in and the table in front of him. He brought his hands up to wipe his face and realized his hands were no longer cuffed._ 'Who would kidnap me and then leave my hands unbound?' he thought to himself. 'What do they want? Where have they brought me? Is Don going to be able to find me? Does Don even know I'm missing yet?'_ his mind was flooding with frantic questions, as opposed to its usual flood of numbers.

He wasn't left alone for long before the door behind him opened and a single man in a dark grey business suit walked in and stood behind the table opposite him. "Professor Charles Eppes, it truly is a pleasure to meet you in person." the man even offered his hand for Charlie to shake.

"I'm sorry, I can't say that I know who you are." Charlie's voice was bitter and he made no reach to shake hands with the man.

He lowered his hand, "Ahh, yes, forgive me. I have a long and boring name, how about we just call me... Michael" He smiled at Charlie. "Now, let's not waste any more time, Charles, I have a job to do and a short deadline to stick to."

"What does that have to do with me?" Charlie tried to keep a brave face, but his emotions gave him away with an audible gulp.

"Charles, you are going to help me do my job, see I have heard that you have a knack for finding people using maths and a little information." He paused as if waiting for Charlie to argue the fact, when he didn't he continued. "You are going to help me find the person I'm looking for, and when they are found you will be free to go home." He smiled again and waited for Charlie's response.

"Why do you want to find this person?"

"Oh we don't need to worry you with those details; you just need to find them for me, Charles."

Charlie knew from Michael's refusal to tell him, that he wished the person in question harm or even death. He could not... Would not help Michael. "No."

Michael almost looked surprised at Charlie's response. "Now now, Charles I have offered you a perfectly good deal. A business deal, if you will. Perhaps take some time to think about your answer."

"My answer is no, and it is going to stay that way." Charlie let anger give strength to his words, though it didn't take much for Michael to turn his strength into fear.  
"Charles, I assume you think your brother is already looking for you and that you can buy time until the FBI finds you and arrests or kills me. Am I correct?"

Charlie simple nodded.

" I can assure you, Charles, that nobody even knows you are missing."

_'He has to be lying; they have to know I'm gone...'_ Charlie frowned and tried to think how Michael could be telling the truth.

"You don't believe me, I understand. Here, I'll show you." Michael pulled a small remote out of his blazer and pushed a button, pointing it at the ceiling behind Charlie. A projector turned on, Charlie hadn't even noticed it there. The lights went out and Michael moved so the image from the projector was clear against the wall opposite Charlie.

The screen was split into two sections; the one on the top showed Alan sitting at the kitchen table eating a meal, probably lunch judging by the amount of daylight. The bottom section showed the FBI office; Don was at his desk almost buried in paperwork that piled high on his desk.

_'He's right... No one knows I'm gone. How is that possible?'_ Charlie just watched the screens, disbelief and fear filling him more and more by the second. _'They must have planned this all out. Michael, or an associate of his must be smart. That or they have been planning this for some time.'_

"Charles, nobody is looking for you. Help me find who I'm looking for and I'll release you, this doesn't have to get complicated." Michael tried one last time to persuade Charlie, though it was to no avail.

"My answer is still no." Charlie's voice wavered slightly as he spoke this time, for the first time he was truly beginning to fear for his life.

"Very well, you leave me no choice Charles. This must be done the hard way." he turned off the projector and for a few brief moments the room was dark and the fear in Charlie doubled. When the lights came back on Michael was exiting the room, only to be replaced by a man almost a foot taller than Charlie and built bigger than Colby. Charlie stood up quickly and moved himself so the table was between him and the thug.

The thug chuckled silently and cracked his knuckles, successfully Driving more fear into Charlie who backed away further.

The room was a decent size, but it took no time for the thug to cross it, push the table aside and grab Charlie by the scruff of his tee-shirt. Charlie had no time to react before being thrown like a rag doll across the room. He landed on the floor where the table used to be and hit the chair he was sitting in only moments ago. He managed to get to his hands and knees, but was swiftly knocked back down with a hard kick in the stomach which drew the breath out of him. He rolled onto his back, trying to breathe again.

The thug, however, had other ideas. He lifted Charlie up by the scruff of his shirt again, instead of throwing him though, he held him up straight and with his free hand, punched the side of Charlie's stomach. He stopped Charlie from doubling over and threw another punch at the same spot. This time he tossed Charlie to the side and walked out of the room.

Charlie crawled the short distance to the wall and sat up, leaning his back against it. He was still trying to catch his breath back and coughing only made him cringe in pain.

Michael walked back into the room and slowly made his way to kneel in front of Charlie. "This can end now, and you can help me and go home. Or this can get much worse for you, Charles. The choice is yours."

Charlie thought for a moment,_ 'The chances are that he wants to harm or kill the person are too high. I can't... Don will find me. They'll figure out I'm missing soon. I just have to wait.'_

"Charles, I am waiting. What do you say?"

"No"

Michael actually looked disappointed for a moment, and then he turned cold. "So be it." he stormed out of the room, once again to be replaced by the thug who now wore a huge grin on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

Don opened the front door to his family's house and is greeted straight away by his father Alan; "Charlie, is that you?"

"No dad it's me. You know you really should start locking this door dad." Don walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

"Oh hey, Donny. I was expecting Charlie, is he with you?"

"Nice to see you too dad." He said before taking a long drink from the bottle. "Why would Charlie be with me?"

"Well because he stayed at your house last night, and he was helping you with a case for the past two days at your office." Alan got off the couch and went to stand next to Don.

"What?" Don took another smaller sip. "Who told you that? I've been stuck doing a mountain of paperwork for the past two days. I haven't seen Charlie at all."

Alan looked at his son, concern and confusion on his face. "Charlie left me a note saying he would be with you..." Alan picked the note up off the kitchen table and gave it to him.

Don read it over twice. "Well he has to be somewhere. Have you tried calling him at all?" Don was already pulling out his phone and dialling Charlie's number as he said it.

"Uh, yea, Charlie call me as soon as you can. Where are you?" Don left a voice message on Charlie's phone after it rang out.

"Have you spoken to Larry or Amita at all since you saw the note dad?"

"Yes, I told them Charlie was with you and was busy, like the note said."

"Alright dad I need you to tell me everything that happened the last time you saw Charlie." Don was serious now, he knew something wasn't right.

"He was in the garage working on some stuff and I was going out with Steve. I told him the front door was locked, and he told me to have a good time. That was it. I assumed you called him with the case while I was gone... Don what's going on?"

"Everything looked normal in the house when you got back?"

"Yes, why? Where do you think he is?"

"I'm not sure but I have a hunch and I really hope its wrong." he walked over to the stairs but hesitated before going up, "Where was Charlie's bag last? Room or garage?"

"Uh, in the garage I'm pretty sure."

"Alright, I'll be back in a minute." Don jogged out to the garage and quickly found Charlie's bag. He pulled out his phone and started calling his team to get them to the house ASAP. "Charlie is gone. Kidnapped gone." he said to David on the phone as he walked back inside the house.

"Kidnapped?! What do you mean kidnapped, Don?!" Alan grabbed his son's shoulders and held eye contact with him.

"Get forensics here ASAP, David. I'll call you back." He hung up and put his phone away, "Dad I need you to stay calm right now so I can figure out what's going on. Please go and sit on the couch or something." he tried to sound reassuring but it was hard when he was just as worried about Charlie as his father was.

Alan did as his son requested and sat on the couch, though he was too stressed to do anything but sit there and watch Don.

Both his and Don's attention was captured when the TV turned itself on and revealed footage of Charlie sitting in a chair in a white room. Don nearly dropped his phone in shock at the sight and Alan glued his gaze to the TV.

The image seemed to be paused, but it didn't stay that way. The footage began playing and Don and Alan watched as their family member backed away from a larger man, and was then beaten by the man. Alan had to stop watching and hurry upstairs to the bathroom before he was sick. Don kept watching out of years of experience of watching similar kinds of videos multiple times to pick up as much information as possible. The problem was that now it was his brother in the video. His temper shot sky-high and he nearly broke his phone, he was squeezing it so hard.

The footage paused again when the large man left the room, Don was both relieved and upset. He was relieved he didn't have to see his brother hurt more, but upset that he now didn't know what was happening to his brother. He was unable to help him yet.

The TV stayed frozen on the image of Charlie cringing in pain, leaning against a wall in the unfamiliar white room. Don went upstairs to help his father, and was coming back downstairs when FBI cars started pulling up in the driveway and front yard. David was the first one through the door, closely followed by Colby.

Both the agents did a quick sweep of the house with their eyes, both landing on the TV and the image of Charlie.  
"We need to get a team..." Don pointed at the TV but didn't look anywhere near it. Colby recovered first and started ordering the forensics unit around, organizing the investigation.

"Oh Jesus..." everyone stopped and turned their attention at what David was looking at. The footage on the TV started playing again, though it seemed to skip some time in the middle. The footage was showing that the larger man was back in the room, and was continuing to beat up Charlie.

Don ran his hands over his face and through his hair, trying to regain his composure. "Alright people, we have a kidnapping, victim has be missing on estimate since as early as yesterday morning, after 9am. Can we get a team on this TV, see if you can find where that's coming from. Another team, Charlie's... The victims bag is in the garage, the last place he was known to be, see what you can find." without hesitation everyone started moving at top speed doing their assigned tasks. David and Colby stood close to Don and tried to assure he was alright.

"Don we'll find him man, they are stupid enough to feed us video of Charlie, it'll lead us right to them." Colby tried first.

"But they aren't stupid. They managed to grab Charlie without leaving any signs, and they even left a fake note to ensure it took time to realize he was even missing."

"Note? Maybe I can get something from that. Stressing isn't going to help Charlie, keep your head clear alright?" David reassured him then went to examine the note.

Colby stayed by Don, he knew that the personal link may start affecting his thinking. That however was the last thing he had to worry about as their attention was drawn back to the TV.

The footage was no longer a security-like video; it was as if a hand-held camera was set up in front of Charlie who was sitting at a desk which was easily recognized as the same one from the room before.

Charlie looked a little beat up, but nothing too severe. He mostly just looked scared.

Everyone was surprised when instead of the usual captor talking, giving demands, Charlie started talking, though not with his own words; "Agent Eppes... It appears your convincing is needed..." Charlie paused for a moment and swallowed, showing just how afraid he was. "Your brother here... Doesn't seem to think... His l... His life... Has value... You should... Tell him why... He should do as I ask... Because if he doesn't... I'm going to..." Charlie's voice was breaking more and more as he continued, to the point he had to clear his throat before he could continue. "If he doesn't, I am going... To kill him."


	4. Chapter 4

It was Don's turn to swallow, though because of experience with similar situations in the past, he handled it a lot better than Alan did. His father sat at the base of the stairs with David right behind him, attempting to comfort him.

"Don?" Charlie was no longer speaking his captor's words, the change in his voice was quite clear and almost a little relaxed.

Don wasn't sure if the message was pre-recorded or live, but he chose to believe the latter and responded to his frightened brother. "Yeah Charlie, I'm here"

Charlie's face lit up momentarily with a hint of hope, before fading back to fear. "Don I-"

"It's alright Charlie, do as they say. We'll get you home soon. What are their demands?"

"Don... I can't do it."

"Do what?"

"I can't do what they want me to do."

"What do they want you to do Charlie?"

"They-" Don watched Charlie stop talking and flinch as soon as a gun came into camera view, pointed at his head.

"Wait! Alright don't tell me Charlie. Why can't you do it?"

After a pause Charlie continued; "I won't do it."

"Damn it" Don cursed under his breath. "Charlie think about this-"

"Don... Dad... I'm sorry." Charlie closed his eyes as he spoke, and as he predicted, the video feed was cut off, though not in time to stop Don and the room full of people seeing Charlie cower away from a large figure that loomed ominously over him.

"God damn it!" Don slammed his fists down against the nearby kitchen table, startling several of the federal agents in the room.

Colby tried to pull Don towards the front door to get some fresh air but he refused to move. Instead he pushed Colby away with such force that Colby almost fell. "WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE SO STUPID?! HE'S GOING TO GET HIMSELF KILLED BEFORE WE CAN FIND HIM!"

Colby recovered quickly and he and David worked together to pull Don outside whilst trying to calm him down; "Don calm down! You can't help Charlie unless you keep your head!"

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO FIND HIM ALIVE IF HE KEEPS PISSING OFF WHOEVER TOOK HIM!" Don's yelling was actually covering the fact that he had tears falling down his face.  
David and Colby let him go once they were outside and the three of them just stood there in silence. Don wiped his face and tried to hide that he had actually shed tears.

"Don let's get back to the office and we can start the investigation using the resources we have. We can leave an agent here to hook up a feed from the TV so we can see the next transmission when it comes." David took Don's keys and got in the driver's side as he said it, either Don got in with him, or he got left behind.  
With a sigh Don reluctantly got in the passenger side and waited for the entourage of agents to go back to the FBI headquarters.

Colby went back inside and informed the agents inside what was going on, and in no time the cars started clearing out of the Eppes' front yard.

Colby stayed with the tech that was getting a feed from the TV and said he would come to the office as soon as the tech was done.

Once at the office every agent works in overdrive trying to find ANYTHING to help the case, and after hitting dead end after dead end Don starts losing it again.

"We have to have _something!_ A fingerprint, a witness, _anything!_" Don didn't yell but he definitely said it loud enough for everyone to hear it. Don's mood wasn't the only one that was dropping by the second, majority of the people on the investigation were getting to the point of ripping hair out.

Nobody wanted to confirm what they all knew; that they had nothing. Charlie's kidnappers took him and left no trace of whom or where they were. It wasn't an amateur job. Don was about to hassle a few more people but was cut off by Miller who asked him into his office.

"Sir we need t-" Don was quickly cut off by Miller who had an unsavory look on his face.

"Don go home."

"But sir-"

"I don't want to hear it Don. You're off the case. Go home and be with your father. I'm sure your team will keep you updated."

"Sir! You can't be serious! I need to be on this case! He's my brother!"

"That is exactly why you can't be on this case Eppes!" Miller sighed and lowered his tone, "Go home and be with your father, no doubt he's having a hard time right now. I'll personally inform you if we find anything."

Don nodded, there was no point fighting him. As he headed to the elevator he thought about what Miller said; _"I'll personally inform you if we find anything" 'he said "If" not "when" they find anything.'_

Don's drive home was long and quiet; he left the radio switched off and dwelled on thoughts about what he'd seen of Charlie, and he tried to figure out anything that could help his younger brother. He came up with nothing, the same as everyone else investigating the case.

Alan was just about to go to bed when Don walked in the front door. He simply nodded at Don and continued upstairs. Don noted how tired and worried he looked and chose to leave him be 'till the morning.

Don barely made it three feet away from the front door before it burst open behind him and he was grabbed in a sleeper hold from behind.

He hit the man holding him in the ribs with his right elbow, but it had little effect. Despite struggling against the man, using all his FBI training; he was out like a light in less than a minute.

Once Don was unconscious another man came up and helped carry him into the back seat of the same car in which Charlie was taken. Unlike Charlie though, Don's hands were bound behind his back using the handcuffs he had yet to remove from his pocket.

Alan heard the door open again, and suspected that Don had stormed outside or something, after all he was under as much, if not more stress than he was. It wasn't until he heard a car speed away from out of the Eppes driveway that he hurried back downstairs to see what was going on. Angry or not, Don wouldn't drive dangerously like that.

Alan was right; Don wasn't the one who drove. His stomach dropped and his heart almost stopped when he saw the front door still wide open, Don's car still in the driveway and Don's keys and wallet on the floor by the door where they had been dropped.

As soon as Don knew he couldn't overpower the man choking him, he dropped his keys and wallet out of his pockets in a last ditch effort to at least make sure Alan knew he hadn't just left.

Alan stumbled over to the phone and called David who answered after only a single ring; _"Hello?"  
_

"David… Don… Gone… Help…" Alan struggled to talk between laboured breathing as he began having a full blown panic attack.

_"Alan? Hold on We'll be right there!" _David hung up and Alan was left in silence; he made his way over to the dining table, pulled out a chair and sat with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands.


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie was woken up by the bright light that flooded into the near pitch black room he was still being held in. since he was last conscious things had changed; the table and chair were gone, replaced by a blackboard against the side wall of the room. His arms were also bound tightly together in front of him. With a quick movement of his wrists he determined that there was no way he would be able to get them free without assistance.

Michael entered the room, turning the projector in as he did so. Charlie, having fallen asleep against the back wall of the room, cringed as the blinding light from the projector got him in the eyes.

He staggered to his feet and stood leaning against the wall opposite the blackboard and a comfortable distance away from Michael.  
Michael's attention was fixed on the projected image on the wall which showed an image of another identical, white room with only a single chair in it. Charlie began to wonder what was going on when the image started moving; the door to the room opened and two thugs pulled a struggling man in and sat him on the chair. The man had a black bag over his head and his hands were bound behind his back; the thugs made sure to put the back of the chair between the man's body and his arms.

_'Is this who they wanted me to find? Did they find him without my help? What happens to me now?' _Charlie's internal questions stopped dead when the man in question spoke from under the bag.

"Who the hell are you?!" That one question let Charlie hear enough of the man's voice to figure out who it actually was.

"No!" Charlie turned to Michael who was still standing there watching the wall with a smile on his face. He was angry now, he let the new anger fuel him as he charged at Michael and attempted to hit him with bound fists.

Michael easily dodged him and reversed the attack; he grabbed Charlie and pulled him tight against him with one arm around his chest, pinning his arms down, and the other around his shoulders. He spoke quietly in Charlie's ear "Shh or you'll miss the show." He had no trouble holding Charlie still as he attempted to struggle away.  
Charlie had no choice but to stand and watch the projected video.

One of the thugs made several strips in and out of the room, carrying a bucket, two handfuls of bottled water and a small black handtowel. The other thug removed the bag once the bucket and bottles were in place.

Charlie gave another small struggle when his fear was confirmed. He watched as Don looked around the room, squinting against the sudden brightness.  
Don took everything in; the two thugs, the fact that he was in a metal chair not a wooden breakable one, and the bucket, water and handtowel. He knew straight away what was going to happen when he saw the bucket set up behind his chair.

The thugs paused and looked at the camera once everything was setup.

Michael spoke softly to Charlie again; "Charlie this is your last warning, help me or suffer the consequences."

Charlie, unlike Don, had no idea what the bucket and water meant because he was just a mathematician, he'd never dealt with anything like this in his life. Because of this he answered the same as he had before, "No."

Michael sighed and spoke seemingly towards the thugs, "Begin." Charlie assumed he was wearing a wire or something because the thugs resumed their activity as soon as Michael spoke.

Don's head was pulled back roughly by a tight grip on his hair; as soon as his head was back the handtowel was draped over his face, covering the entire thing. The towel was held in place with a grip at the back of his head. The thug who wasn't using both hands to hold Don's head began opening water bottles; once they were open he began tipping the water, one bottle at a time, out directing the water straight onto Don's mouth and nose.

The towel was soon drenched, making it impossible for Don to get a breath through it.

Charlie was horrified at what he was seeing. "STOP! STOP!" he struggled furiously against the hold on him and Michael simply released him, letting Charlie run up to the wall.

Charlie turned back to Michael; "PLEASE! STOP!"

Michael did nothing but stand and watch.

Don was at his limit, he couldn't hold his breath any longer. He started choking and coughing water back up before it could reach his lungs. He was thankful when the flow of water stopped and the towel was released and removed. The grip on his hair was also released, allowing him to throw his head forward, gasping for air and coughing up small amounts of water.

Once he had caught his breath Don attempted to talk; "Why… doing this..?"

The only answer he received was his head being pulled back again and the flow of water resuming its assault. He was glad at least that the towel hadn't been replaced; he could get a little oxygen here and there. It did however mean the water poured straight into his mouth and overflowed into his nose, as opposed to being mostly in his mouth.

Once again he reached his limit and began coughing and choking; the thugs once again halted their assault.  
_'They clearly don't want me dead or they wouldn't be stopping.' _Don thought to himself while he caught his breath once again.

He didn't get to speak this time before the assault continued for the third time.

Charlie was freaking out; he had resorted to yelling at the thugs projected on the wall. Michael decided that Charlie had seen enough to be compliant; "Charlie."

Charlie spun around and stared at Michael, his eyes wide and full of a mix of worry and fear for his brother.

"Charlie are you going to help me?"

Charlie didn't even need to think about his answer, he had to stop them torturing his brother, he yelled his answer and even dropped to his knees; "YES! YES! PLEASE STOP!"

Michael grinned and whispered something to the wire he was wearing; Charlie spun back around, still on his knees in front of the wall and watched as the thugs stopped their assault.

Don had been almost to the point of blacking out before the thugs stopped their final assault. That time they hadn't stopped when he began to choke; they kept going, kept drowning him. He truly had started to panic then, something had changed and it was time for him to die. He had struggled as best he could, but it only served to hurt his neck further and cause him to need air even more.

When they finally stopped Don almost fell off the chair with the severity of his coughing and choking. The thugs ignored him as they picked up the bucket, bottles and towel, and exited the room, leaving Don still gasping for air.

Charlie watched relieved to see the thugs leave Don's room, he was terrified when Don had started thrashing in the chair, fighting for much needed air. He knew the thugs wouldn't have stop again until Don was dead. Charlie turned to Michael who still hadn't moved and spoke quietly, "Can I see him?" his voice was a mix of emotions; relief, worry, fear and defeat.

Michael thought about Charlie's request for a few moment before nodding, "I suppose you can have five minutes with him before you begin your work. Let's go" he gestured towards the door and Charlie wasted no time getting to his feet and jogging out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Don barely noticed when the door opened, he stayed where he was; seated and looking down at his soaking wet and now see-through light blue shirt. He was disorientated and exhausted from almost being drowned. Charlie called his name twice before he even realized the door had opened.

"Don! Don!" Charlie ran to his brother after Michael closed the door behind him.

"Charlie?" Don finally looked up to see his brother kneeling in front of him.

"Don are you alright?" Charlie held his brother's gaze until he answered.

Don could see his eyes were filled with concern, yet he hadn't realized both of their hands were bound, Charlie's in front of him and Don's behind the back of the chair still.

"Yea I'm… I'm fine… What's going on?" His voice sounded as though he had swallowed barbed wire.

Charlie cringed at the sound of his brother's voice, "Don I'm sorry. I should have just agreed to help them. Now they have dragged you into this. How could I have been so stupid? Don I'm so-" Don cut him off; "Charlie! What's going on?!"

"I agreed to help him. It was the only way to stop them." Charlie bowed his head, ashamed that it came to this.

Don tried to put his hand on his brother's shoulder but he finally realized his hands were cuffed still; "Damn it."

"What?" Charlie looked back at his brother

"They used my cuffs. I dropped the keys when they got me, unless I get my keys my arms aren't getting loose."

Charlie looked even more defeated at the realization.

"Charlie it's alright, they'll find us. What is it they want you to do?"

"They uh.. They want me to find someone for them."

"You can do that right?"

"Yeah but Don-"

"Did they say anything else?"

"Don I think they want to kill whoever I need to find…"

Don realized then why Charlie had refused to help them in the first place. "I'm not going to tell you what to do Charlie, do what you think is right. Don't worry about me."

Michael opened the door then; "Time's up Charles, let's go."

Don tensed and watched helplessly as his brother exited the room reluctantly.

Michael was impressed by Charlie's sudden compliance. He was working away on the blackboard in his room; he had been given notes on where the target had been sighted and for how long, and a map of LA to work with.

Charlie requested that the projector showing his brother stay turned on and Michael who was impressed with his work agreed. Charlie kept an eye on his brother while he worked on finding whoever Michael was looking for. Nobody had gone into Don's room since Charlie had left, of that he was relieved. He just had to hope it stayed that way until he stalled long enough for the FBI find them.

*V*

The FBI had done another forensics search of the Eppes house and came up with nothing once again. The only things they had were Don's keys and wallet.

David was pacing, trying to think of how they were going to find the missing Eppes brothers when it occurred to him; "Their phones! We found Don's keys and his wallet! But he must have kept his phone in hope we could trace it! Why didn't we think of it sooner!" He was furious at himself for not thinking of it sooner, but he had no time to waste, he called the techs and gave them their instructions. All that was left was to wait for their call to see if they could or couldn't trace the phone.

Megan was staying at the Eppes house with Alan and two other agents. They weren't going to take any chances of Alan being taken too. He called her to check up on things there and Megan assured him that it was all good.

David was about to ask how Alan was when his phone beeped, indicating another call. He switched lines instantly and listened to the tech; _"We have been able to trace his phone to a park close to the Eppes residence."  
_

He was surprised at the news and put a team together to go there immediately. He called Megan back and gave her the address.

In less than 10 minutes Megan and one of the agents were out of the Eppes house and sitting in the car out the front of the park in question. "I can't wait, I'm going in."

Megan got out of the car and put her bullet-proof vest on before drawing her gun and walking up the small hill towards a large dam. The other agent was following close behind her, mimicking her stance, keeping an eye out for perpetrators.

Megan gasped in shock as soon as the dam was visible. She forgot about possible danger and ran to the edge of the dam in a full sprint. The agent behind her ran to keep up with her whilst calling in what they had found and requesting paramedics.

He had to hold Megan back before she could jump into the dam and retrieve the body floating face-down in it.

The body was a Caucasian male wearing a light blue shirt and dark suit-pants. He had no shoes or socks on, and his hands were handcuffed behind his back. All up the body bore a chilling resemblance to Don, not to mention that they traced Don's phone here.

David and the other agents got there soon after and now that so many people were there nobody stopped Colby when he dived into the dam and pulled the body to shore as fast as he could.

Everyone close by helped him and the body out of the water. There was a unanimous sigh of relief from Megan, David and Colby when the body was turned over and they saw that it wasn't Don.

"Whoever they are, they didn't do a very good job of making us think this was Don." Colby was the first to speak out of the three.

"Unless the intention was to simply scare us; after all, they have been able to remain untraceable so far, so why would they bother making us believe Don is dead, when they don't have to worry about being found anyway." Megan stated.

"Let's see if we can't find out who this is and if he has any connection to the kidnappers." David interjected their debate.


	7. Chapter 7

The following day the FBI investigation into the Eppes brothers' disappearance was progressing slowly, but it was finally no longer at a standstill. They were following up leads relating to the dead body that was found in the dam; chasing up anything and anyone connected.

Michael could see the FBI making progress and he decided it was time to check on his mathematician.

Charlie jumped when Michael entered the room; he had not had any visitors for the rest of the night and the sudden intrusion pulled him out of his own world.

"Good morning Charles. You must be tired, you were up all night." Michael sounded pleasant enough, though his face showed suspicion.

"I Uh… I couldn't sleep even if I tried." It was the truth. Stalling or not, he was still completely focused on his equations.

"You will be able to sleep back in your own bed as soon as you have finished your work. Speaking of which, how is it going?"

_'Not good, I have to stall longer.' _"Well I still haven't been able to pinpoint their location. It would be easier if I knew more about who I'm searching for…" he made an act of gesturing to different parts of the board.

Michael didn't look satisfied; "you have adequate data to find who I'm looking for."

Charlie swallowed _'well what now genius?'_ "It's going to take some more time…"

"You wouldn't happen to be leading me on would you Charles. Not after last night…" Michael looked at the projected image on the wall, which was harder to see with the lights on, but was still visible enough to see clearly.

A thug was in the room with Don; he had lifted him from the chair and was holding his arms tightly, holding him in place and exposing the entire front of his body to the second thug standing in front of him.

Charlie didn't even wait for something to happen; "No! I'm not! It's just.. It's just taking more time with the little data I have!"

"Now Charles, I don't like being lied to… And I really hate being played." Michael looked purely angry now.

As if on cue the second thug abruptly snapped Don out of his heavy sleep by driving his fist straight into Don's stomach.

Don cried out in shock and almost slammed his head back into the first thugs, he lifted it so violently.

The second thug continued his assault with a series of punches spread between Don's stomach, chest and face.

"No! I can find them I swear! I just need a little more time!" Charlie was begging Michael this time.

Michael spoke to the wire; _"Stop." _ He then turned with a glare that chilled Charlie to the bones. "Charles I hope for Don's sake you are right. I fear he is running out of time."

Charlie was expecting Michael to leave then, and the thugs to leave his brother alone; however neither happened. The second thug stepped away from Don, and the first released his hold. No longer being held up, Don fell straight to the floor; he was still trying to recover from the fierce beating. He had to give the thugs credit; they were quite strong, and quite painful. He stayed collapsed on the floor, waiting for the pain to fade a little.

Michael stayed standing watching Charlie with his death glare. The message to Charlie was clear 'hurry up'.

Charlie turned back to the board and worked, no longer trying to stall.

Several minutes passed and Charlie was making great progress in comparison to before, but Michael apparently still wasn't happy.

_"Take him to the other room" _Charlie was distracted when Michael spoke to the thugs again. He then watched them pick up Don and drag him out of the room.

"Where are they taking him?! I'm doing what you asked!" Charlie sounded desperate now.

"Charles you are taking too long, I suggest you keep working and stop wasting time."

Charlie did as he was told; he was only a few more minutes away from pinpointing a general area that would hopefully be small enough to satisfy Michael. He could have finished this last night if he had had a computer to help him; but Michael was not a fool, he wouldn't have risked giving Charlie a computer for any reason.

"Tic toc Charles."

Charlie was freaking out; shaking so uncontrollably that he almost couldn't write on the board. He had started mumbling his calculations and more than once had to count on his fingers because he was so stressed he was having trouble thinking.

His thoughts were interrupted completely when the image on the projector changed to show the backyard of a house with a pool and, most importantly, the two thugs holding Don.

"You have two minutes Charles. After that your brother goes swimming, let's hope he can use his feet." Michael announced Charlie's final deadline.

Charlie forced himself to look away from his brother and finish his calculations, he had to narrow down two more points, _'only two more points, come on!' _

His time was running out too fast; "one minute" Michael announced.

"No! I need a little more!" Charlie didn't even look away from his work as he said it. He was so close!

"ONE MORE!" he almost yelled, announcing he was almost done.

"Time's up Charles." Michael announced all too soon that his time was up, but he was now so focused that he didn't hear.

The thugs pushed Don into the pool and watched as he tried and failed to keep his head above the water.

"DONE!" Charlie actually yelled this time, he spun around only to have whatever relief he felt die when he saw Don slowly sinking to the bottom of the pool. "NO! GET HIM OUT! IM DONE! DON!"

_"Get him out" _Both Michael and Charlie watched the thugs jump in and pull Don out of the pool.


	8. Chapter 8

Charlie watched in absolute silence as Don lay beside the pool receiving CPR from one of the thugs. He seemed to be having a little trouble because of Don's hands still being cuffed behind his back.

After what felt like forever to Charlie, Don's body gave a small spasm and he began coughing up water and gasping in as much air as he possibly could.

Charlie sighed, releasing the breath he wasn't aware he was holding. He was once again filled with relief.

Michael walked over to the black board and looked at the map stuck to it. Charlie had circled a relatively small area on the map of LA, and to Charlie's further relief he seemed to be satisfied that it was a small enough area.

_"Bring the good agent to the professor's room" _Michael took down the map; before he exited the room he said to Charlie, "If you have played me again Charles, I will shoot your brother through his heart myself."

Charlie wasn't afraid, he was certain that his math was correct and Michael's target was in the circled area. "You said you'd let me go!" he called after Michael.  
"I can't very well let you leave before validating your work Charles. Take this time to relax with your brother, if I return with my target, you and your brother will be taken home." Michael left and Charlie sat against the wall, taking deep breaths and relaxing a little.

Soon after Michael left, Don walked into the room and was instantly pulled into a tight hug by his younger brother.

"Charlie" Don's voice was weak and rough. Charlie realized that his brother must have been exhausted; he led his brother slowly to the side of the room and helped him into a sitting position on the ground.

Charlie sat next to his brother and rested his head on his shoulder.

"Charlie… What happened?" Don sounded like he would fall asleep any second.

"They figured out I was stalling. Which is when they started beating you up. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have messed with them. You being here is entirely my fault."

"It's ok… The water?"

"They gave me two minutes to finish the equations… I didn't finish in time… Don you almost died…"

Don felt Charlie's chest shake; "Charlie… Don't cry… I'm alright." He wished he could hold him but his hand were still stuck.

As if he read Don's mind, Charlie wrapped his arms around his brother and held him close while he cried. If they both got out of this alive, Don would remember to go easier on his brother… and to teach him some self-defense classes.

The FBI investigation had only one lead with the dead body they found in the dam; the man's lungs were filled with chlorinated water, not dam water. They looked up every property that has a chlorinated pool, and a resident who has a criminal record. Once they had found them they began narrowing down to ones with history of gang activity or kidnapping. This was still leaving a large number of suspects. To say they were all frustrated would be an understatement.

Alan had gone to bed at around midnight; however he hadn't slept very well and was showing physical signs of sleep deprivation. Megan began to worry about him when he spent the whole morning sitting on the couch looking at the blank TV.

Michael returned to Charlie's room to find the brothers asleep; Charlie was sitting propped against the wall, with his brother's head resting in his lap. He wondered for a moment how he should wake them, and decided to torment them a little longer.

He slammed the door closed and watched them both jump with fright. Don sat up and tried to position himself defensively in front of Charlie. Michael chuckled darkly at the sight and stood looming over the two. "Well Charles… I suppose you are eager to hear the results of your calculations…"

_'He's actually toying with us… bastard…' _Don glared at Michael with enough intensity to burn a hole in paper.

"Oh relax agent, your brother passed. Not with the best grade, but he passed none the less."

"So now we get to go home?" Charlie asked cautiously.

Michael looked disappointed for a moment, and then he crouched down in front of them, grinning maliciously. "Oh yes Charles… You and Agent Eppes get to go home now. Though I never specified in what condition you went home in… And to be honest with you Charles. I'm still angry that you tried to play me for a fool. And for that, I have decided to enjoy watching you suffer just a fraction more."

Charlie shivered slightly with fear and don lunged at Michael. "Don't you touch him you bastard!"  
Michael dodged him easily; he stood and opened the door for the same two familiar thugs to enter. Charlie grabbed Don and pulled him towards the back of the room, away from the thugs and Michael's sadistic grin.

"I tell you what Charles. I'll let you decide which one of you takes this final punishment, before you go home."

Without missing a beat Don stands in front of Charlie and volunteers. Charlie pulls him back just as fast and walks towards Michael.

That advance was enough; the smaller thug launched himself at Charlie like a wild cat pouncing on prey. Charlie had no way to defend himself as the thug drove his fists hard into any flesh they could get to.

Don ran to help his brother but the larger thug gave him a swift knee to the ribs, and then held him on his knees with a painful grip on his hair.

Don watched helplessly as Charlie was lifted off the floor and slammed against the wall. With one more punch to the stomach Charlie collapsed on the ground, in too much pain to move and barely keeping himself conscious.

"That's enough. Take them home" Michael strode out of the room, clearly satisfied with the state of the Eppes brothers.

The brothers were taken to the same car that they were first taken in, and once again put in the back seat. Charlie was fading in and out of consciousness and all Don could do was watch and wait in the hope that they were truly being taken home. Every bump in the road was painful to both brothers. Don suspected that the last knee to his ribs had at least fractured one or two ribs. He noted that Charlie had some blood on the back of his neck that wasn't coming from any wound on his neck, therefore had to be from somewhere on his head. Possible concussion in addition to possibly fractured or broken ribs, they were both in a bad way and needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

They pulled up in the Eppes' driveway and in less than thirty seconds they had been taken out of the car and placed on the ground and then the car had sped off the way it came.

Megan ran outside to see what was going on with the speeding away car, and almost fell over when she saw both Eppes brothers lying on the driveway. "ALAN! COME QUICK!" she yelled as she ran to them. She ran up to Don, but he pulled away and gestured towards Charlie, "He needs help more than I do."


	9. Chapter 9

Alan didn't move from the seat between his son's beds until Don woke up; he jumped up and rushed over to his bedside.  
Don's head was groggy when he opened his eyes to see a white room; the memory of waking up in Michael's white room flashed through his head, he sat up and looked for the thugs. Sharp pain shot through his side and he remembered that his ribs were injured.

"Donnie it's alright, you're safe." The soft tone of his father's voice soothed him and he let himself relax back on the bed.

"Dad" He didn't know what else to say, so that was all he said as he looked at his father. For the first time since they realized Charlie had been taken, Don felt relaxed and safe.

"You're in the hospital. You're safe now." Alan had tears in his eyes as he smiled at his eldest son.

"Dad where's Charlie?" Don was worried again, but it was only a short-lived emotion with his father's answer; "He's here too, He's fine Donnie."

Charlie was asleep in a bed to Don's right; he hadn't noticed him before because he was so relieved to see his father.

"Charlie? Charlie?"

"He's just sleeping Donnie, it's alright."

Don sighed, _'he's ok. We're safe and in the hospital.' _Don couldn't help but still be concerned for his brother, he wouldn't settle until he spoke with Charlie and heard from him that he's ok.

Don finally managed to convince his father to go and have something to eat; "We'll both be here when you get back dad, you need to eat something." He reasoned.

"Alright, I'll be back soon." Alan reluctantly left quietly so he didn't wake Charlie.

It turns out that he hadn't needed to worry about waking Charlie because he was already awake; he turned his head and spoke, making Don aware for the first time that he was actually awake. "How is he?"

"Charlie, I didn't know you were awake. He's fine now that we're safe. How are you?"

"Yeah I'm… I'm alright…" Don chose not to question his brother's response, instead he thought about what he was going to write in his FBI report.

There was a soft knock at the door, followed by David entering the room. He smiled when he saw the two brothers awake; "It's good to see you two. Unfortunately though, I've been given the task of reporting your witness statements."

"All work no play" Don joked half-heartedly.

David sat next to Don taking notes from both brothers, putting down in words what happened to both of them, for just over an hour before the doctor came in and asked he leave to let them rest. David went back to the office to file his report, and the brothers both drifted into much wanted sleep.

Don and Charlie were in the hospital for two days before the doctor cleared them to go home and take it easy which they were glad to do, for the first day.

"Charlie stop pacing, just sit down and read a book or something." Alan was attempting to read the newspaper but was having a hard time because Charlie had been pacing around the house mumbling math gibberish for the past half an hour.

"I need to get back to school, I need to do some work." Charlie spoke the same response as last time he was told to sit down.

"Charlie go work on your blackboards in the garage" Don had finally had enough.

"Don…" Alan hadn't let the boys leave his sight since they got home, which was understandable.

"Dad, we are both here, he'll be fine."

Charlie hesitated for only a moment and then he was gone, off to scribble endlessly on his blackboards.

To Alan and Don the sudden silence was amazing and they both turned back to what they were doing.

Their silence was short-lived when a knock at the front door sounded. Don watched Alan get up and answer the door. _'It's probably Larry or Amita' _he thought to himself, all the while staying alert just in case it was trouble.

It was indeed trouble, but not the kind either of them were expecting; Alan opened the door to several LAPD officers waiting to come inside. One of them held up a warrant while the others pushed past Alan and began searching the house.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Alan was furious that they didn't ask to come inside, or explain themselves.

Don stood up and went to talk to the officer in charge; "Officer what is going on?"

"Step back sir or you will be charged with obstruction of justice!" The officer even put his hand on his gun, as if Don was a threat. "Where is Charles Eppes?"

"He's in the garage… why?" The officer ignored Don and ordered his comrades to the garage.

"I am Agent Don Eppes of the FBI" he was angry now, "what is this about?!"

"I don't care who you are, back off!" Alan pulled Don away from the officer before he got himself in trouble.

Moments later the other officers re-entered the house with a handcuffed Charlie who looked more confused than anything. "Don what's going on?"

"Why are you arresting him?"

One of the other officers finally answered Don's question; "He is under arrest for aiding in the murder of a man."

All three members of the Eppes family were speechless as Charlie was escorted into the police car and taken away.

Alan turned to Don, furious and confused; "How can he… They must have it wrong!"

Don sighed, "Dad… If the man that took us killed whoever he made Charlie find, then the charges are correct. But they can't stand in court; he was the victim of a kidnapping by the same man." Don pulled out his phone and called David; "Charlie has just been arrested for aiding in a murder, I am going to need everything we have on his kidnapping ASAP."


	10. Chapter 10

Charlie sat in the police's interrogation room with the same officer who picked him up from his home. He'd been sitting in the room for at least an hour, but this was the first time he'd been joined by anyone.

"Professor Charles Eppes, where were you four days ago?" The officer officially began the interrogation.

"I am unsure where exactly I was-"

"How can you be unsure where you were?"

"I was locked in a white room, the same white room I'd been kept in since I was first taken from my home."

"I can't say that I follow professor."

"I was kidnapped several days before the day in question."

"And that is why you don't know where exactly you were?"

"Yes" Charlie couldn't believe that the officer was having such a hard time believing he had been kidnapped.

"Can anyone confirm that you had in fact been kidnapped?"

"What? There was an FBI investigation! My brother was kidnapped by the same people!"

"But nobody aside from your brother can confirm that you were in fact kidnapped?"

"This is ridiculous…"

"Please answer the question professor."

"No, nobody else knew where we were or who had kidnapped us."

"_'We'_ meaning your brother and yourself?"

"Yes…" Charlie wiped his hands across his face in exasperation.

"And there was no evidence found that confirmed you were in fact kidnapped?"

"No."

The officer opened the file he had brought in with him and put a photo in front of Charlie. "Do you recognise this man?"

Charlie had no idea who the man in the photo was, but he had a feeling the officer wasn't going to believe him; "No."

"So you have never seen him before now?"

"No."

The officer put the photo to the side, and put another in its place. "Is this you professor?"

"Yes" Charlie didn't know how they had it, but he was staring at a picture of himself writing on the blackboard in the white room.

"And what are you doing in this picture professor?"

Charlie didn't want to answer; he knew it would be as good as a confession. "I'd like a lawyer."

"Why professor? Afraid to answer the question?"

"Afraid of being wrongly convicted, actually."

The officer gave Charlie a dark look and exited the room, leaving Charlie sitting at the table looking at the image of him, and the image of the man he didn't know. _'Did I really get this guy killed?'_

Charlie was sent a community lawyer who sat with him and discussed where he stood.

"The evidence is against you. It suggests that you may have even orchestrated the kidnapping of your own brother in order to try and validate your alibi."

"THAT'S REDICULOUS! WE WERE BOTH KIDNAPPED BY A MAN WHO CALLED HIMSELF MICHAEL! HE TORTURED US BOTH! MY BROTHER ALMOST DIED!"

"Please calm down Mr Eppes. I'm simply telling you what the evidence suggests. Your best bet is to tell the truth about this photo and hope for a short sentence."

"Why are you even here? All you're telling me is that I have to lie down and let Michael win! Just get out!"

The lawyer sighed and exited the room. Charlie needed to talk to Don; he spoke directly at the one-way mirror. "Can I talk to my brother?"

Little did Charlie know, the officer behind the mirror was already on the phone to Don who was chewing the officer's ear off. Unfortunately the officer wasn't taking any of it and refused to let him enter the investigation room with his brother.

The interrogations officer from earlier returned to the room and sat across from Charlie again. "Are you ready to answer my question professor?"

"I was working on an equation… Can I talk to my brother Agent Eppes?"

"No you can't professor. What was the equation for?"

"It was written to stop my brother being tortured and killed."

"Professor, avoiding the question isn't going to help you."

"I'm not avoiding anything, I am answering your questions."

"What was this equation calculating?"

_'Damn it, I'm going to have to lie my way out of this one. But that'll only make it worse when they find me guilty anyway.' _"That equation that I was writing at the time of this image, was designed to discover a pattern between multiple points of data."

The officer was clearly getting quite frustrated with Charlie. Because he dropped his fist onto the table and asked his final question in a firm voice; "Professor did you or did you not write an equation that revealed the location of this man?!"

"I don't know."

"How can you not know?!"

"Because I wasn't told who it was to find or for what reason!"

The officer smiled slightly, happy that he finally got his answer, his confession. He stood up and left the room, this time taking the file and photos with him.


	11. Chapter 11

Don tried to fight against Charlie's charges, but the only evidence he had was witness statements from Charlie and himself, which nobody else could back up, and footage that they had no copy of. Basically He had no evidence to support that Charlie was actually kidnapped.

Don at least had Alan as a witness to confirm that he was kidnapped. The police didn't believe Charlie's story at all, they said it was just that… A story.

Charlie's first court appearance was essentially just a sentencing, since no evidence could be brought forward to defend him.

"Professor Charles Edward Eppes, you have been summoned today under the charge of aiding in the murder of one Michael Treglown. How do you plead?" The judge's voice carried through the room, easily cutting through the silence.

"Not guilty" Charlie said, though his voice didn't carry near as well.

The judge nodded; "Officer, you have the floor."

"Thank you. Mr Eppes do you deny that this is you?" The officer pointed to a screen playing a video of him writing the dreaded equation on the blackboard in the white room.

"No."

"Do you deny that the equation you are writing in this video is what led Michael Treglown's murderer to him?"

"No."

"Do you have any witnesses or evidence to support that you were in fact kidnapped several days prior to, and on the day of Michael Treglown's murder?"

"The video you have of me in the white room writing on a blackboard IS footage of me whilst I was in the hands of my kidnapper."

"Do you have any supporting footage to prove that?"

Charlie sighed, "No."

"Your honour I have no further questions." The officer sat back down.

"Professor Charles Edward Eppes, please stand." Charlie slowly rose from his chair and faced the judge, waiting for her decision. "Mr Eppes due to the evidence against you and lack of evidence to support your case, I find you guilty of aiding in the murder of Michael Treglown. I sentence you to two years in prison at North County Correctional Facility. Court is dismissed." He brought down his hammer with a loud thud and everyone in the room started moving again.

Charlie looked behind him and found Don and Alan Eppes. His father had his head in his hands and Charlie could swear he was crying. His brother Don had his arm around his father's shoulders, but was looking directly at Charlie. He didn't know what to say to Don, who was looking at him with an expression that showed a mix of anger, concern and sorrow.

The guards came all too soon and began escorting Charlie away. Don called out over the noise of everyone else; "I'll get you out Charlie! I promise!"

Charlie turned away to hide the tears that started to fall down his face, the realization had just set in that he was going to prison.


	12. Chapter 12

Charlie had been grateful when they showed him to his cell and he found that he had no cellmate. He was also glad to be on the far end of the second floor, away from regular activity and prisoner traffic. He was scared out of his mind when he walked past the other cells and felt all eyes on him. He knew he was the 'fresh meat' and he knew he had to be careful.

He had been brought in in the afternoon, when the inmates were locked in their cells for the night, so he at least had the night safe in his own cell. He wasn't sure how much sleep he'd get though; he would more than likely stay up all night worrying about facing tomorrow.

He attempted to relax, lying curled up on his cot; to his surprise he found himself drifting off to sleep relatively quickly. He dreamt first that he was back home with his family, they were all having dinner together. Then the scene changed and he was teaching a class at CalSci; scribbling away on the blackboard, explaining different theories. His dream was nice, but it ended all too quickly; he was pulled out of it with the sound of a loud buzz.

Charlie remembered that he was in prison, and longed to go back into his dream and stay there longer. He watched his fellow inmates filing past his open cell, none of them looked at him; they were only interested in breakfast. He waited for the line to die down before he tagged along, following the line as it snaked to the cafeteria.

He chose an empty table to sit at with his tray of food, and avoided eye contact of everyone by looking down at the floor in front of him, or straight at his food.

The food, he noted, actually tasted better than hospital food. Even still, he found he lacked much appetite, so didn't eat his entire portion.

Breakfast was a loud affair; the inmates talked, joked and even argued about trivial things such as the weather. Charlie was beginning to believe he was scared for no reason; they all seemed nice enough.

After breakfast came twenty minutes of outdoor time. Numbers started appearing in Charlie's head for the first time in weeks, he saw them everywhere; in the group numbers and patterns based on location and population. Numbers around the outdoor gym area, the bleachers that had people scattered on them in an unintentional order. And in the basketball area, where it appeared as if it was all on all, but after closer inspection Charlie devised that there were two teams of three, and the rest were spectating or subs.

"Hey what're you looking at?!" Charlie was startled away from his numbers by one of the basketball subs who had noticed him watching them. Charlie forgot where he was; only remembering the numbers. He knew how one of the players could improve his three point shooting.

Everyone in the large group stopped their game and looked at Charlie aggressively as he made his way over to them, mumbling calculations.

"I saw your throw, the three point one. And I think I know how you can improve your technique so you have up to an 85% chance of getting it in." Charlie made gestures towards the player, the ball and the ring. "May I?" he held his hands out for the ball and several of them laughed at him.

He was too late in noticing that the group had now surrounded him; he was in the centre of a round wall of well-toned men. It was then that he remembered that he wasn't in a class, or even a park, he was in prison.

"I… I'm sorry." He dropped his gaze to the ground and tried to walk back the way he came, but instead of moving out of his way, they pushed him across to the other side of the circle with a "where do you think you're going?"

They amused themselves with pushing him across the circle in random directions a few times before one of them got bored and punched his stomach instead of catching him and pushing him again. Charlie put an arm around his stomach protectively and backed away from the one who punched him; only to be kicked square in the back from behind. He fell forwards onto his hands and knees, receiving one kick in the ribs, and then he was really in trouble; the circle converged on him, kicking and punching any of him they could reach. He curled into a ball in an attempt to lessen the damage, but there were too many of them.

He barely noticed when the group quickly dispersed, leaving him alone curled in a foetal position on the ground.

A guard knelt next to him and checked to make sure he was alright before helping him to his feet. Charlie looked around nervously once he was standing, but the group was already back into its game of basketball.

The guard escorted Charlie to the prison infirmary, where he was cuffed to a bed and left in the hands of the doctor.

"What happened?" She asked him softly while looking over his injuries and cleaning any open ones.

"I forgot I was in prison, not a classroom" he said simply.

"You're new" It wasn't a question but he nodded anyway.

"The first week is the hardest, trust me."

"Statistically you are right, but the statistics usually don't include people like me."

"People like you?"

"Professors… Mathematicians.."

"Ahh. I don't usually ask this, but how did someone like you end up in here?"

Charlie stared down at his hands and fought against the urge to cry. "I was kidnapped, and then days after I was free of him… I was arrested, and later convicted, of helping my kidnapper murder someone."

The doctor halted her work for a moment, "if you were kidnapped then why were you convicted?"

"Because they didn't believe I was kidnapped… My brother Was almost killed… because of me."

"Your brother was ALMOST killed. He's alive still, and I bet he's trying to get your charges dropped right now. Have faith."

Charlie wiped a small trickle of blood from his lip with his free hand, but didn't say anything more to the doctor.

The guard came back and escorted Charlie to his cell under doctor's orders to 'take it easy'. Charlie was just glad he could be alone in his cell again, his first taste of prison was bleak, and he only expected it to get worse.


	13. Chapter 13

Charlie spent the rest of his morning in his cell; he paced the length of it whilst thinking about the basketball player he'd tried to help. He analysed repeatedly all of the ways he could improve his skills. Charlie didn't know why this particular player had stood out to him; there was just something about him that made him stand out from the rest.

The rest of the inmates from his block came back in from outdoor time not long after Charlie had gone back to his cell. They were allowed to walk around freely in the block until lunch time, and Charlie stopped counting how many people walked past his cell after the 15th person.

Only a couple of inmates payed any attention to the fact that Charlie was staying in his cell by himself, pacing back and forth. One of the ones who did pay attention, appeared to be very curious, and watched Charlie for several minutes, which made him extremely uncomfortable. He hadn't done anything about being watched because he didn't want to draw even more attention to himself, or get into trouble.

He almost jumped out of his skin when the basketball player he'd been analysing slipped silently into his cell and hid behind the bunk bed without a word.

Charlie walked over to him, keeping an eye on his open cell door, and whispered; "Who are you hiding from?"

"I can't let my boys know I'm in here, I'd never hear the end of it." The man whispered back. They were both around the same height, though he was quite athletic, unlike Charlie who bore a closer resemblance with a twig.

"OH… Ok… Why ARE you in here?" Charlie genuinely had no idea whatsoever as to why he was there.

"Before, what did you mean about improving my three-pointer?"

"Oh! That well…" Charlie's mood shot sky high as he explained the theory he'd been working on since first seeing this man play outside. "That should improve your chance of getting it in from 65% to at least 85% if not more."

The man stood there for a moment, thinking about what Charlie explained to him. "Are you some sort of scientist?" he finally responded.

Charlie gave a small chuckle; "I'm a mathematician. My name is Charlie" He held out his hand and the man shook it after a moment's hesitation.

"I'm Zack, but everyone calls me Zip."

"Why 'Zip'?"

"Ah when we play ball, apparently because I'm small I 'zip' past everyone easily" he said simply with a shrug. "Hey I better get going, thanks for the advice man."

"Oh. Yeah sure, Not a problem" Charlie smiled and moved so Zack could slip back out of his cell subtly.

He was happier now; he had unofficially made a friend. He hoped it would make his time there less unpleasant.

*V*

"I don't understand!" Alan wasn't angry at his son, he was angry at the man who kidnapped his sons; unfortunately though, Don was the only person around for him to thrust his anger at.

"I'll explain it simply; Charlie was kidnapped in such a way that no traces were left to prove he was actually kidnapped. There is footage of Charlie writing the equation that led to Michael Treglown's death. There is no proof, other than my word, that Charlie and I were kidnapped by the same man, because we are the only two that saw him. Somebody, presumably our kidnapper, who told us to call him Michael, gave the police the footage anonymously. The body found in the dam that was first suspected of being me, happens to be a student from CalSci. That is the only evidence to be found so far in this whole case."

"But how does that lead them to convict Charlie?!"

"When evidence is put together it essentially paints a picture of the crime, the criminal and anyone who took part in the crime. So far this evidence doesn't show a full picture. All it does show completely is Charlie; everything is unfinished, they know of a kidnapping and two murders. Only one of the murders has sufficient evidence to have a direct and clear link to Charlie."

"So… They also suspect Charlie of being involved with the other murder and… Your kidnapping?! THAT IS REDICULOUS! WHY WOULD HE KIDNAP HIS OWN BROTHER?!"

"To give him an alibi…" Don's voice went quiet as he said it. _'It can't be true… Charlie could never… Could he?'_

Alan could see that Don was considering the possibility, "DON! YOU CAN'T SERIOUSLY BE CONSIDERING IT! HE IS YOUR BROTHER! HE IS THE KINDEST PERSON I KNOW! AND HE LOVES YOU!"

Don was taken aback by his father's last words. _'He's right… neither of us will admit it, but we do love each other. We are brothers.' _He pushed all of his doubt aside and resumed his search for proof of his brother's innocence.


	14. Chapter 14

The rest of Charlie's week was relatively uneventful; Zack visited him in his cell several times and listened to Charlie babble about math. After Zack's basketball skills improved overnight, two of Zack's close friends came to visit Charlie as well; one went with Zack and the other went by himself. The one who went with Zack happily sat and listened to Charlie and Zack talk, the other friend wanted to talk to Charlie about his own ball skills. Charlie was glad that Zack had roughly the same understanding of math as Don, so he could have relatively easy conversations about whatever topic came up.

Charlie's perception of prison was beginning to change for the better, though little did he know that had just been the calm before the storm. The day was rolling along like previous few; it wasn't until outdoor time that the pattern began to show variation.

Charlie was joined in his usual spot on the bleachers nearest the basketball area, by a man who appeared to be in his late 30's. He was bald, and had a thin line of black facial hair along his jawline, connected to a small goatee.

The man took a seat next to Charlie, who looked at him curiously and greeted him with a voice that reflected as much, "Can I help you?"

"I sure hope so. See boy, I happened to notice you receiving a few visitors these past few days and… Well… I was wondering… You look like a young, handsome lad. Surely the price is a steep one, but I'm sure some arrangement can be made don't you think?"

Charlie had no idea what the man was going on about, "Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"No need to be shy with me boy, we are a lot alike, you and me." Charlie finally realized what the man was on about, as soon as he felt the man's hand gently squeeze his thigh.

Charlie jumped up so fast he lost his balance and tumbled to the ground next to the bleachers. He held up his hand in a stop/stay back motion and spoke before even getting up off the ground, "I'm sorry, you've got the wrong idea I don't-"

"Charlie! Everything alright?" Zack had come running over after seeing Charlie fall and helped him to his feet. Without waiting for an answer Zack turned to the older man who had stood up when Charlie fell; "I think you should get going old man."

"Now now, it was just a simple misunderstanding." The man began to back away from Zack and Charlie, though he kept his gaze honed on Charlie with a look of hunger.

"What's going on here?" Charlie was so focused on the man's chilling gaze that he hadn't noticed that the rest of the basketball players were now standing behind him and Zack, forming a menacing wall.

"I was just leaving" The man finally turned around and walked away, leaving Charlie in the midst of the formidable group of athletic men.

"You alright Charlie?" Zack brought Charlie's focus back to him.

"Yea… Thanks."

"Hey yo, can Charlie chill with us from now on?" Zack asked the group, as if they together formed one being.

There were several moments' hesitation before a unanimous agreement consisting of nods and "yea"'s.

With that Charlie spent the rest of outdoor time standing on the sidelines of the court, watching the two teams play, before returning to his cell and waiting aimlessly for lunch.


End file.
